Week Three of the Caregivers’ Kitchen Remodel

By Carol March 19th, 2013

Because of the time change, I wake up this morning just as brilliant orange light is streaking across the eastern horizon. An amber glow slants in over the granite countertops of the condo in the sky’s modern kitchen. I turn off the microwave night light over the stove. A new day is beginning.

There is color, too, in the space where our new kitchen at home will soon be. We have chosen a couple of shades of a greenish blue for the newly hung walls. One of these colors also goes down the stairwell replacing the bland white that has greeted us there for the past ten years.

There is color on the floor. The demo guys exposed the subflooring for the first time in 75 years by removing four or five layers of various woods, vinyls, and tiles. The step up to the kitchen had been getting kind of high. Now the flooring guy can lay the new and colorful linoleum on a kitchen floor once again flush with the other floors in the house.

Bill and I were happy to learn that today’s linoleum one of the greenest flooring products on the market. It is definitely versatile with an almost unlimited number of color and pattern choices. And no other material is more period appropriate to a 75 year old cottage.

We chose the aqua blue color for the walls against the advice of our certified aging in place designer. She suggested steering away from the blues we were considering on the basis that the perception of the color blue diminishes sooner than the other colors as eyes age. This loss of visual sensitivity to color is an irreversible and normal part of the aging process. I don’t know why blue is the first to go.

Maybe it’s already happening, but neither Bill nor I are aware of losing the color blue right now, so we went ahead with the colors that we liked. Nothing is easier than changing the color of paint on the walls, if we decide later on that blue has escaped us and we’d like something else better.

I hadn’t been aware of this age related loss of color sensitivity. When I looked it up, I learned about other changes in vision that are a normal part of aging including significant loss of peripheral vision and a greater sensitivity to glare. Here is a link to an article that distinguishes normal changes in vision due to aging eyes from potentially serious conditions.

As we reach the end of Week Three, demolition and construction are behind us. Now that we have protected the surfaces of the floor and walls with color, our kitchen is ready to be put back together. We are looking forward to the installation of cabinets, sink and appliances in Week Four.

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